Background
Udovitch, Abraham Labe was born on May 31, 1933 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Son of Benjamin Alexander and Minnie (Benson) Udovitch. came to the United States, naturalized, 1966.
( From the point of view of economic history, the ideal w...)
From the point of view of economic history, the ideal way to study any institution of commercial law would be to compare the information contained in legal codes and treatises with the material relating to its application in economic life as manifested by actual contracts, letters, and business records found in archives and other repositories. In the case of the early centuries of the Islamic period, available sources unfortunately preclude such a procedure. Theoretical legal texts exist in abundance, but any corresponding documentary material is for all practical purposes non-extant. In order to determine if the framework in which the trade and commerce of the early Islamic period was carried on--a trade known to have been active and important--we must of necessity rely on legal treatises for most of our information, which trying wherever possible to call upon whatever meager help other literary sources may provide. In the absence of documentary and similar sources, the possibility of investigating the quantitative aspects of trade is all but eliminated. However, in those areas of trade which have been described as qualitative, such as the variety of goods exchanged, the specialization of the merchant class, and the complexity of business methods, legal and other literary sources provide a great deal of valuable information. It is with the institutions of partnership and commenda in the early Islamic period, two of the qualitative components of trade, that Abraham L. Udovitch makes his primary focus in Partnership and Profit in Medieval Islam.
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Udovitch, Abraham Labe was born on May 31, 1933 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Son of Benjamin Alexander and Minnie (Benson) Udovitch. came to the United States, naturalized, 1966.
Bachelor of Science, Columbia, 1958. Master of Arts, Columbia, 1959. Doctor of Philosophy, Yale, 1965.
Assistant professor Middle East history, Brandeis U., 1964-1965;
Assistant professor Middle East history, Cornell Univercity, 1965-1967;
associate professor Middle East history, Princeton, 1968-1971;
professor, Princeton, since 1971;
department chairman Near Eastern studies, Princeton, 1973-1977, 80—. Board Governors American Research Institute in Turkey, since 1969. Director Middle East study panel Commision on Critical Choices for Americans, 1974-1976.
Member Executive Committee International Center for Peace in Middle East, since 1989.
( From the point of view of economic history, the ideal w...)
Trustee Northeast Pooled Common Fund. Member American Oriental Society (chairman Islamic section since 1972), Middle East Studies Association, Economic History Association, Council on Foreign Relations.
Married Lucette Valensi. Children– Tamar, Miriam Esther.